The Lazarus Effect
by 666darkreaper
Summary: Its an oddity, really. Every time I die, I come back to life hours later with no recollection of my past life, asides from my name and how I died. Sure, most of my memories will come back eventually. That is, unless I die before I can recover them. And when that happens, the whole process starts over again. (A story about Sara Walker. AKA Agent Maryland)
1. The Beginning

_So here's just something I wrote up because I was bored. I may continue, I don't know._

 _Feedback is appreciated_

 _Thanks!_

* * *

"I don't know," I said through gritted teeth as I hung my head, "I'm sorry."

Felix took a step towards me now, raising the knife up to my throat, tracing the edge of the blade across the soft skin. "Oh, but I think you do." his voice was venomous and obviously a bit annoyed. "Somewhere, in that perky little brain of yours," he slapped the side of my head lightly as he spoke.

"I told you everything I know," I said, looking up at him now, tugging against the restraints once more, but accomplishing nothing besides further irritating my already sore wrists.

He sighed in annoyance now. "I don't think you get it," he said as he took a step back, tossing the knife up, catching it once more. "I want some information. And I know for a fact that you know what I want to know. So if you don't start talking, NOW, i'll spill that pretty little brain all over the ground. And then we will see if you can come back from that." he said, moving his hand to grab my chin and tilt my head up so I had no choice but to look at him.

"Go ahead and shoot me. We both know you would've done it by now if it would work." I say, moving my face away from him.

He let out a chuckle, "Pretty smart. Pretty smart. But I knew you would be hard to break," he said, "You've always been that way."

"You don't know me." I spat, turning my attention to him once more.

"Oh, but I do. I know more about you than you know about yourself." he laughed, obviously enjoying my suffering.

"Your insane."

"Maybe. But I always get what I want. And this is no exception." he said, turning around and walking out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Once he was gone, I leaned by head back, letting it rest against the large pillar I was tied to. I was still fully armored, asides for my helmet which had been discarded in the opposite corner of the room, and my wrists were aching from just how tight the restraints were.

I struggled against my bonds once more, trying to slip at least one hand free, but unable to. Damn, whoever tied my hands must have not wanted me going anywhere.

Thats when the door opened once more, and Felix re-entered. But he wasn't alone.

"I knew from the beginning that you wouldn't be cooperative," he said, pulling someone wearing grey armor with yellow accents into the room. "So its a good thing I was prepared for that." he forced his new captive against the pillar on the opposite side of the room, and soon he was restrained as I was.

The grey and yellow armor clad soldier didn't seem to be fighting, much to my confusion.

"Who is that?" I questioned, now more baffled than I had been before. I let out a laugh. "You really expect me to give you information over a person I don't even know? You're a psychopath."

"Tsk tsk," Felix said, pulling the same knife out that he had earlier, beginning to trace down the neck of the other soldier. "You really don't remember him? Shame. I was really hoping you would. Torturing him won't be nearly as fun now."

"You're sick." I said as I tensed up, leaning as far forward as I could, racking my mind as hard as I could to try and get even a slight remembrance of who it could be.

He laughed again. I could've sworn I'd heard that laugh many times before. "Maybe."

After a moment, I shook my head, leaning back. How was he planning on breaking me if I couldn't even remember who he was torturing? "Felix, right?"

He turned back to me, I could only imagine the dark expression he wore on his face now. "Yes?"

"Go to hell. I don't know him. If you want information, torturing him won't do anything."

"So what you're saying," he said, taking a step towards me once more, "is that," he stopped as soon as he was in front of me, crouching down so he was at eye level. "You're going to let me torture this man, the one that you used to love, all because you don't remember him?" he stood back up, turning around. "My my, haven't you changed."

I looked past him, focusing on the other person, who still hadn't spoken a single word. Shaking my head, I glared up at Felix. "Stop pretending that you know me."

"But I do, thats what you don't understand. How could you just forget about me? We were partners once," he said, shaking his head and looking down at the knife in his hands.

"I doubt I would ever willingly fight alongside someone like you."

He laughed again, turning back around. "We're alike in so many ways. You're a killer, Sara. You've always been that way. And theres no changing that."

I tensed up once more, looking away from him now, "You don't know anything about me." I said again. I didn't want to believe any of the words he was saying. There was no way they could be true... Right?

He sighed now, obviously frustrated with the amount of time he was wasting. "Keep believing whatever you'd like. But you'll see. You can't just keep pretending your the good guy. Sooner or later, your precious little reds and blues will figure out what you are. A monster."

I lashed out at him now, but it did no good as the restraints simply tightened around my wrists once more.

"And now, i'm going to get what I need." Felix said, taking the knife, and with one quick motion, plunging it into the other soldiers arm. I tensed up as I watched, but said nothing. If he was thinking he could break me, he'd have to do a little better than that.

The orange and black clad soldier turned around now, "nothing?" he said, looking me over before twisting the knife a bit, earning a scream of pain from the man he was assaulting.

The scream sent chills down my spine and I struggled against my bonds once more.

"Come on now! The longer you lie, and pretend you don't know, the less chances he has of walking away in one piece."

I shook my head. The armor of the other soldier felt as though it was somewhat familiar, as though I should know it, but I just couldn't remember.

Thats when he let out another shout of pain, and something inside my mush of a mind clicked.

"Washington?"


	2. Remembrance

_Deciding to post a second chapter, not sure where i'm going with it._

 _Enjoy_

* * *

"... You remember me?" the other soldier said, raising his head to look up at me.

Felix stopped twisting the knife into his shoulder for a moment, looking between us. "Is there something I missed here?"

"I.." I looked away from them both, shaking my head. I did remember someone named Washington, I had known them a long time ago, I think. But I couldn't remember much about him. "I don't really know."

Washington struggled a bit now, trying to get away from Felix, but it really did no good. "Felix, listen to me." he finally said. "She doesn't know anything."

Felix laughed, and I could only assume he wore a face of annoyance under his helmet. "And tell me, why would I believe you, Freelancer?"

"Because. Although it may seem strange, each time she dies, she comes back to life with-"

"And you think I didn't already know that?" The Mercenary let out a sigh of annoyance.

".. She comes back to life with no memories." Washington finished

Felix looked back over at me now. "So you're saying, each times she bites a bullet, she loses her memories? You're lying."

"Have you ever seen her die and come back to life?"

There was a moment of silence as the mercenary continued to stare at me, before finally returning his gaze to Washington. "No"

"Then you don't know. I've seen her die, multiple times. And each time its the same. She comes back, no memories, no information, nothing. So you're beating a dead horse, Felix."

I heard the mercenary grumble under his breath before turning and walking back my way. "And if all of this is true, how did you know my name before?"

"I.. I did?" my voice was hesitant and low

"Yes. How did you know who I was?"

"I don't know. I just.. All I remember is someone wearing green and black armor shooting me in the back. I bled to death on the spot. And then I woke up here. Wherever here is." I say, looking around the room once more before looking back to him.

"And just how do you remember that but nothing else?" he questioned me

I shrugged, tugging my hands on the bonds a bit more before relaxing them once again. "Thats the thing. I can't remember anything besides dying."

Felix grumbled in annoyance before turning and leaving the room, obviously pissed off.

I watched him go, forgetting to close the door behind him as he stormed off.

Washington was looking at me now, and my attention went back to him.

"How do I know you?" I asked, moving my hands against the bonds once more, working them a little harder than before. If I could just wiggle one of them out, I could try to find a way out of here.

"Its a long story." he replied, obviously wanting to spare the details.

"We've got time."

He sighed, looking down now. I could tell he was moving his hands a bit as well. "We worked together in a project, many years ago."

"What was it called?" I said, able to get part of my wrist out from where they were held.

"Project Freelancer. Thats where you got your whole rising from the dead trick from."

"How am I able to do that?" I further questioned. One of my hands were nearly free, but I wanted to know as much as I could about myself before running back out into the world.

".. There was a man named Leonard Church who directed the whole program. He ran experiments on you."

"I'm guessing they worked?" I looked away now, wriggling my hand a bit more until it popped out. I then pulled a knife from my side and cut the rope to free my other hand.

"You could say that."

Once I had stood up, I used the wall to support myself as my legs felt weak and I didn't quite trust them to support me. I looked over at him. "So I just recently died, didn't I?"

"Yes, don't you remember?"

"I remember how I died, not when." I said, pushing myself off the wall. My legs still felt wobbly but I made my way over to him, cutting through his bonds and offering him a hand up.

"I can explain everything I know, once we get out of here. If you'd like, of course." he said, taking my hand and pulling himself up.

"That sounds lovely."


	3. Implications

Getting the hell out of there would've been a lot easier, if it hadn't been for Washington being stabbed, and bleeding out along the way.

We had somehow managed to bypass the mercenaries without being noticed, and had gotten further than I expected, before I began to notice Washington growing fatigue and eventually he started swaying as he walked, threatening to topple over.

"Alright, easy, easy." I said, moving closer to him so that I could sling his arm around my neck for support, holding up as much of his weight as my much smaller - yet strong frame could.

"I-I'm fine."

"No, you're not." I sighed as we trudged along, a lot slower than before. "You've probably lost a lot of blood and you're going to end up bleeding to death if we don't do something about it."

"We have to get out of here before they notice we're gone. There isn't time to stop."

Just then, footsteps on the other side of the hall could be heard, and I ducked behind the nearest wall, shoving Washington into a nearby janitors closet and shutting the door behind us quietly.

"That was too close." I breathed, looking over at him. I could tell he wasn't doing very well. His breathing was heavy, and he could barely stand up without the support of the wall. "Let me see your arm." I said, helping him into a sitting position before reaching up and removing my helmet.

"I said i'm fine." his voice was irritated and cold, "its not like you would remember how to care for a wound, anyways."

"At least let me take a look. And you can tell me what to do."

"..Fine" he sighed, beginning to remove the arm piece of his armor.

I sat down, crossing my legs before beginning to examine the wound carefully. There was a large tear in the skin where Felix had stabbed him, accompanied by lots of blood and bits of skin that were all out of place due to Felix twisting and turning the knife around. "Alright.. I would have to guess that our first priority is to stop the bleeding, correct?"

"Yes, perhaps you still remember a few things." he noted

I laughed, looking around for anything I could use to possibly clean the wound before wrapping it. "I don't think i've ever forgotten how to use my common sense."

"Thats.. debatable."

I raised an eyebrow, turning back to him. "How so?"

"Well for starters.. Back in Freelancer, you were quite a handful to deal with at times." he chuckled lowly

"I was?" I questioned, looking up at the various shelves again. This time, a bottle of water and a towel caught my eye and I stood up, reaching over him to grab the items before returning to my sitting position.

"You were pretty wild. Fearless. Ambitious. Messy. And always Reckless."

".. That doesn't sound like me." It sounded like I had toned myself down quite a bit over the years. I was a lot more cautious and quiet now. Not to mention how neat I liked things to be. "But, I suppose over time, and biting a couple of bullets, anyone will change." I undid the cap of the bottle and began pouring the liquid on his arm, careful not to make too much of a mess.

He winced slightly when the water made contact with his injury, "Yeah. I've watched you grow a lot over the years."

"And I hope i've grown in good ways." I chuckled

"Mostly."

I tossed the empty bottle to the side before wiping his arm dry with the towel. Now all I would have to do is wrap the arm. ".. What happened to the other members of Project Freelancer?"

"Most of them are dead. We ended up tearing each other apart." he sighed

"How many of them were there?"

"49 in total.."

I tore the towel in half and begin to wrap his arm, to the best of my ability.

"I'm glad you don't have any memories of Freelancer. All of the suffering you went through, I wouldn't wish that upon anyone."

"..Why did he do it?" I questioned, finishing wrapping his arm before looking up to gaze into his helmet.

"The Director was a man of innovation, meaning he liked to run odd experiments on some of the agents. His goal was to create the 'perfect' specimen. One that could fight to the death, and then wake up from there and keep on going."

"And I just, willingly went along with all of this?"

"You had no idea of what was happening. None of us did. They prescribed the majority of us sleeping medications, as trouble sleeping was common on the mother of invention. The director ordered the medics to sneak experimental drugs and chemicals into you and the other subjects' meds." he said, beginning to put the arm pieces of his armor back into place. "Thats how most of his experiments were conducted."

"Those bastards." I clenched my fists tightly, looking away from him. "I want to make him pay."

"The Director has been dead for years."

I stiffened up a bit, at least the man wouldn't be harming anyone anymore. "You said there were others he experimented on. How many?"

"I'm not sure the exact number," he sighed, "but there are at least ten I know of. The Director called the experiment the Lazarus Effect."

 _Many years ago, Mother of Invention_

 _"And don't forget, training for our newer Agents will begin tomorrow at 7 am sharp. You are dismissed." the director said, after a good 10 minute lecture about various weapons and armor procedures. As everyone began to clear out of the room, I turned on my heels, following suite._

 _"Not you." I heard the voice of the Director say, causing me to turn slightly to see if he had been speaking to me or not. "I need to speak with you, Agent Maryland."_

 _"About what, sir?" I questioned, turning around completely so I was facing him. The Director's quick temper was well known around the MOI, so I always treaded lightly if I were to question him._

 _"One of my medics, Lazarus, informed me you were having trouble sleeping at night. I believe you are familiar with him, yes?"_

 _"Um, yes sir. Lazarus gives me my daily check ups and vitamins." I say, scratching the back of my head for a moment. I don't recall ever saying I had a sleeping problem._

 _"In order to make sure you are as healthy as you can be, i've ordered him to prescribe you some sleep inducing medicine."_

 _"But.. sir. I don't have much trouble sleeping, except for that one night. In fact I-"_

 _"I don't think you should be arguing with me on this, Agent Maryland." he interrupted, his voice stern. "I want you to be at the top of your game, and losing sleep is something that jeopardizes that. You do in fact know, i'm doing this for your own well being, correct?" I could hear his tone had grown to be a bit condescending._

 _I remained silent now, looking away from the man of authority before finally nodding. "Yes, sir."_

 _"Good." he said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "You are prescribed to be taking 6 additional pills right before you go to sleep, along with your normal medications. Lazarus will be in charge of making sure you take them, and in the correct dosage. So I expect you at the medical bay twice daily now. Understood?"_

 _"Understood, sir."_

 _"You are dismissed." he said, turning around so his back was facing me. "And pray you don't let me down." he added under his breath. For a moment, I stood there, watching him, trying to process just exactly why I had been prescribed sleeping medicine when I, in fact, had no trouble sleeping. And what exactly he had meant by the 'don't let me down' part he thought I hadn't heard._

 _Eventually I saw myself to the door, running a hand through my hair on the way out, making my way down to the med bay. I had a few questions for my medic._

Present Day

"What the hell?!" I nearly yelled, looking over at Washington, pain emitting from the left side of my face. "Did you slap me?"

"Sorry, I didn't know what else to do." his voice seemed apologetic enough, "you just sat there, frozen. I tried shaking you, but you wouldn't respond.."

"Oh."

"Are you alright?" he questioned

"Fine."

"You sure?"

".. I think I remembered something."

"What did you see?"

I grabbed my helmet, locking it into place before getting up, pulling him to his feet by his good arm as I stood.

"We need to go."


	4. Contact

_I'm still not sure where i'm going with this! But I have been enjoying writing it._

 _I hope you guys enjoy as well. Leave me a review if you would! Feedback is appeciate_

 _Here we go!_

* * *

"Slow down!"

I glanced back, seeing Washington trailing behind by quite a bit now. The memory, or whatever it had been, heightened my anger and adrenaline, and I was in a hurry to get out of this place now. "Hurry up then!" I snapped, slowing down my pace for just a moment so he could catch up.

"Apologies for being stabbed because you didn't know what Felix wanted!" he retorted

I rounded a corner, glancing around it before going. Clear so far.

"You still haven't told me what your memory was about. Was it from Freelancer?"

"Y-yeah. Can we talk about this later?" I continued walking, making sure my footsteps were light as I proceeded.

"Fine. But I need to know whats going through your head. I can't have you out in the field while compromised."

I nodded, not really paying attention to what he was saying. This place was far too quiet than it was earlier. Perhaps they figured out we had gone missing and were trying to sneak around and find us.

We turned down a long hallway, proceeding quietly until we began to hear two people conversing. I stopped, putting my hand in front of Washington to stop him, pointing towards an open door from where the voices were originating.

"Have you been leading us around in circles?" his voice was hushed, yet he still managed to sound pissed off.

"I-" I looked around now, suddenly realizing we had passed through this area before. "Mierda."

He gave a puzzled look. "Since when do you speak spanish?"

"Since now?" I shrugged, turning around to head back the way we had come. "I guess i'm full of surprises."

"Yeah, lets just get the hell out of here."

It took us a while more before we stumbled upon a door. Washington was feeling a bit better now, as he was no longer showing any signs of fatigue. We approached the metal door and I reached for the handle, but he stopped me, a hand on my shoulder.

"Wait, there could be an-"

I grabbed the handle, pulling on it before he could get another word out, only to figure out it was locked from the outside. An alarm rang out, echoing through the entire building.

"Alarm." he sighed

I looked in the direction of the alarm, trying to keep my nerves down as it continued to ring. "Should we do something about that?"

"And what exactly do you think we should do, ask it to stop?" his voice was laced with sarcasm

"No need to be an ass about it." I huffed, turning back to the door. "I have an idea." I took a few steps back.

"Please don't. I think You've had enough ideas for one day."

"Oh please," I glanced at him as I took a few more steps back. "This could work."

"Well, whatever it is, make it quick." he turned his attention down the hall, the sound of footsteps echoing behind us.

I planted my right foot behind me, left foot in front of me. I broke into a sprint and hit the door, busting through. Once the doors hit the ground, I tucked and rolled for dramatic effect, my weight shifting forward, and I ended up landing on my feet.

"Holy shit! That actually worked."

"Do my plans typically not work?" I laughed

"Not really."

"I think you've got me confused with someone else."

"Nope." Wash sighed as the two of us headed towards a nearby Warthog.

"I'm driving!" I announced, running towards the drivers seat of the vehicle.

"Absolutely not. For one, you don't know how to drive, for two, do you even know where we're going?"

"I'm a quick learner." I said, choosing to ignore the second part.

"You don't even have a license!"

"I think I used to.. Once upon a time ago." I tapped my finger against the side of my helmet.

"For what.. A bike?!"

"Alright. Point taken." I huffed, moving over to the shotgun seat, watching him as he hopped into the drivers seat, turning the key in the vehicle. "Do you even know where we're going?" I repeated his words from earlier, my tone mocking. I listened to the hum of the engine after he started it, looking back over at the building.

"..Anywhere but here." he put the warthog in gear and we began to go.

At that moment, bullets started flying towards us, most of them hitting our warthog and bouncing off the metal, others whizzing past us.

"Now would be the perfect time to get us the hell out of here!" I yelled, reaching for the two pistols on my hips. I leaned out the side of the car as we passed them, firing multiple rounds with each gun. I hit a few of the men firing at us, each of the rounds resulting in perfect headshots.

I sat back in my seat, returning my pistols back to the holsters that hung from my hips. I looked over at Washington, a bit confused by the whole situation. I remember who had killed me, and how I died, but nothing else. "You mind getting me up to speed on whats happening?"

He glanced sideways at me, "What do you remember?"

"Black and green armor shot me in the back. I bled to death before anyone could even react. Something about Felix being a traitor?" I sighed, there was so much that had just recently happened, and none of it I could even grasp.

"Felix and Locus are working together."

"Locus." I repeated

 _Many years ago, location unknown_

 _"Locus." I sighed, "What are we doing? We've scouted this before. Theres nothing here." I looked around once more, doing a quick scan of the area. Nothing was picking up on the heat scanners built into my helmet._

 _The soldier remained silent, his gaze moving around, eyes peeled. "Its here."_

 _"Is that supposed to be reassuring?" I said, walking in front of him and turning around so we were face to face ._ _"Our employer is gonna be pissed that we've wasted all this time, not to mention the resources it took to get here! All that! And for what? To come up empty handed?!"_

 _He moved past me, continuing to look around. "You are starting to sound like Felix."_

 _"Someone say my name?" the voice of the previously mentioned mercenary rang through our comms._

 _I sighed, "Locus thinks the device is still here."_

 _"Its nearby." Felix said, finally coming into view. "The energy readings indicate that it has to be." he looked down at the tablet he held in his hands before looking back around. "We must have missed something before."_

 _"You're starting to sound like a fucking nerd." I chuckled, watching as my orange and black armored partner approached. I took the tablet from his hands, looking down at the information displayed on the screen. Something wasn't adding up. None of these energy readings had shown up when we checked this place weeks ago. Perhaps the device was acting up? We didn't know much about it, except that it was alien, and very powerful._

 _"So? Nerds are hot. You can't say i'm not the most sexy piece of ass you've ever met."_

 _"You're so full of yourself." I scoffed._

 _"You love it." he snaked his arms around my armored waist, resting his chin on my shoulder so he could look down at the screen of the tablet._

 _"Focus on the mission and stop acting like two stupid teenagers. Its disgusting." Locus said, still not even sparing a glance at us. He was focused and really intent on finding this thing._

 _"You're so uptight Locus." Felix laughed, nestling his helmeted face into my neck. "Loosen up a bit sometimes." this earned a grumble from the man of black and green armor_

 _I moved the tablet around, watching as the screen finally focused on one area, pinpointing the source of the energy to a single spot. "I think its buried over there." I pointed_

 _Felix let go of my waist and the three of us headed over to where the tablet indicated._

 _"Lets hope we find what we're looking for."_

Present Day

"WALKER!"

"Yeah?" I say, blinking a few times to find Washington had his hand tightly on my arm. I looked at him, a puzzled look on my face as I tugged my arm away. "What are you doing?"

"You did that weird spacing out thing again."

"I did?" I questioned

"Yeah, did you remember something else?"

I bit my lip, looking down at my hands. "I think so."

"You wanna talk about it?" he asked

"Not really." I laughed. "Where did you say we were going?"

"I don't know. I'm still trying to get a signal on the radio to get in touch with Carolina. Moments before you died, she transported the reds and blues somewhere."

"I remember.. Them disappearing. Why didn't you go with them?" I looked at him. I could remember seeing an aquamarine colored soldier beat the shit out of a few people before disappearing with the others. But Washington had chose to come and check on me instead of leaving with them. "My wound was fatal. I knew it as soon as the bullet hit me, I was paralyzed from the waist down."

"I've made a lot of mistakes in the past. But I wasn't going to leave another one of my friends behind."

"Felix could've killed you back there."

"But he didn't."

"Thats not the point." I sighed, "I don't want blood on my hands. I'm sure theres enough of that already."

"I'm not going to lie. We've both made plenty of mistakes in our past." Wash said. "But that doesn't mean thats who we are anymore."

I shook my head. "I didn't even hesitate to kill those men back there."

"That was instinct." he tried to reassure me. "You were in a kill or be killed situation."

"Maybe. But that doesn't mean I liked doing it." I looked away now. I didn't like at all where this conversation was going, or the feeling of guilt that came with it.

There was a moment of silence before Wash spoke up again.

"You just need to figure out who you are again. I'm sure everything will work out fine."

I didn't respond, I only brought my legs up, wrapping my arms around them and resting my chin on my knees.

Just then, the radio made a fuzzy static noise, and we began to hear voices from the other side.

I turned to Washington as he reached to turn up the volume and began to speak. "Carolina, Tucker, anyone, can you hear me?"

"Washington? Is that you? Where are you?"

"Carolina, I'll explain everything when I get there. Can you send me your coordinates?" Washington said

"Sending them now. Be safe on the way." was the last thing she said before the radio went silent.

After a moment, there was a beeping sound coming from Washington's helmet, indicating that the coordinates had been sent to us.

"You sure you know where we're going?" I looked over at Washington with a laugh

He chuckled, "I do now."

* * *

 _Wow this turned out to be a lot longer than I expected_

 _Just wanted to throw a little fun fact in there! Maryland's armor is black mjolnir powered assault armor with charcoal grey accents._

 _But in case I'm unable to update soon, I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas!_


	5. Christmas

_Hey guys_

 _Just so you know i've had no motivation to write anything lately as I've grown a bit lazy over the holiday season but I did throw this together_

 _Enjoy and leave a review if you liked it_

* * *

"Wash.. is there anything else you can tell me about Felix?" I glanced to my left to see the Reds and Blues getting reacquainted with Epsilon and Carolina.

"There isn't much else I know besides what i've already told you. Although, I couldn't help but notice he's all you ask about."

"S-sorry. I've just been getting a lot of memories back lately, and he's in most of them."

"You know, you never really mentioned him much until now. What was he to you?"

"I, um." I let out a breath I had been holding in. "I remember once Freelancer was taken down I was shot and killed by Agent Texas.. She told me something about not wanting me to have to remember all that I had endured."

"...You know, some time before she died, Tex told me she regretted killing you."

"Thats not the point." I sighed, "I woke up in a hospital sometime after that, I think. And having nothing else to do with my skillset, I became a gun for hire."

Wash didn't say anything, so I continued. "I met Felix and Locus sometime after that, the details are blurry. But the three of us became partners."

"And you didn't think of telling me this before?"

I sighed, "I didn't really see the relevance. Besides, why does it matter?"

"Its not that it does. Its just.. this time around you don't seem to be remembering much of Freelancer or when you were younger."

"I remember enough." I shuddered at the thought of some of the worse memories of Freelancer I had recovered. It had been 3 days since Wash and I had escaped from the two Mercenaries, and since then, the memories had been pouring back in. And not all of them were pleasant to re-experience. But he was right, I hadn't recovered hardly any of my oldest memories.

"But i'm sure everything will come back eventually." he said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Come on, you should go talk to the guys. They've all been worried about you."

I flinched slightly at the contact before looking over at the group of red and blue soldiers, "Why would they worry about me?"

"You're like family to them. Besides, they did see you get shot. Come on, its Christmas."

Christmas.

 _Many years ago, Location Unknown_

 _"Felix! I told you to stop!" I laughed, trying to squirm away as he nudged his face into my neck. "You know i'm ticklish!"_

 _He stopped for a moment, resting his chin on my shoulder, shoving his hands into the pockets of my hoodie. "Its entertaining though." he mumbled_

 _"Well, stop entertaining yourself at my expense and help me decorate the tree!"_

 _"Why do you always insist on decorating an ugly ass tree every Christmas?" he sighed, "I can think of like 8 other things we could be doing, and at least 3 of those would be in my bed."_

 _I slapped his arm at the last comment, continuing to decorate the little tree with whatever I had found in the empty base we were holed up in for the night. Mostly ammo, pieces of spare armor and socks. Lots of socks. And to be honest, the tree did look pretty terrible. "Keep talking like that and you can sleep on the floor." I huffed_

 _"You wouldn't do that."_

 _I halfway turned so I could look up into his eyes, my face as serious as I could make it. "Would you like to put money on that?" the corners of my mouth tugged up into a smirk._

 _"No." he laughed_

 _"Alright then." I said, turning back to the monstrosity of a Christmas tree I had created. "Hand me my helmet."_

 _He went over to the table where all three suits of our armor lay, fetching my helmet as he had been instructed. "And why, exactly, do you need this?"_

 _"Because." I grabbed my helmet, placing it on the top of the tree. "Christmas spirit!"_

 _He stood next to me, the both of us staring at the tree._

 _"You know," he began, "it looks awful."_

 _"It really does." I laughed, leaning my head onto his shoulder. "But I love Christmas. And for as long as I can remember, i've decorated a tree."_

 _"Well, if it makes you happy, I won't destroy it.. Until tomorrow, then its definitely gotta go."_

 _"We won't even be here tomorrow!"_

 _"I know." he said, "but theres no way in hell i'm letting that thing continue existing."_

 _"You're an asshole."_

 _"I know." he laughed. "But on another note," he turned to me, pointing up at the ceiling. "I'm pretty sure theres some mistletoe around here."_

 _I rolled my eyes, looking up for a moment before looking into his eyes. Sure enough, there was mistletoe hanging. "You're such a tool."_

 _"You love it." he leaned forward, gently kissing my lips. I leaned up into him, feeling his arms snake around me, resting on my waist. My hands moved up, finding themselves grabbing the front of his hoodie, pulling him closer to me. This went on for a good minute until-_

 _"The fuck is that thing on the table?" I pulled away from Felix to see Locus entering the room, tablet in one hand coffee in the other._

 _Felix sighed, leaning back against the couch. "Goddamn Locus, if you cock block me one more time I swear to god I'll-"_

 _"Its a Christmas tree." I interrupted his mumbling, shooting him a glare before turning to Locus._

 _"That thing is a disgrace to Christmas trees everywhere." Locus commented before looking down at the tablet, letting out a long sigh._

 _"Something wrong? You've been glued to that thing ever since we got here."_

 _"Employer still hasn't sent our payment yet. The package was supposed to be delivered an hour ago."_

 _"Perhaps the deliverer is running a bit late." Felix suggested, running a hand through his hair before shoving his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants._

 _"Possibly." Locus looked up from the tablet. "But the payment should've been here by now."_

 _I sighed, leaning back against one of the chairs. "I'm sure it'll be here soon." in all honesty, I wasn't too worried about it. Worse to worse, if our employer didn't pay us, we'd track him down and-_

 _There was a beeping sound coming from the tablet, and then my watch. I looked down at it, seeing that the payment had indeed just come through. "See?" I looked up at Locus. "Told you so."_

 _Locus shut the tablet off and set it on the table, looking my way. "You are starting to sound way too much like Felix."_

 _I laughed, shrugging my shoulders. "Am not."_

 _"Not that its a bad thing to be awesome." Felix added in_

 _Locus sighed, moving to sit on the couch._

 _"You got us another job yet?" I questioned, watching Locus as he scrolled down on the tablet._

 _"Yes. We're leaving early tomorrow. So the two of you might want to get some sleep."_

 _"Alrighty then, guess i'll see you in the morning, Locus." I turned to Felix, shooting a wink his way before motioning with one finger for him to follow. I quickly turning around, heading into one of the rooms._

 _"You might want to wear earplugs tonight, Locus." Felix said, patting Locus on the shoulder before quickly following me._

 _Locus sipped his coffee, still staring down at the tablet. "Affirmative."_

I blinked, looking over at Washington. I had snapped out of the memory and I had been sort of expecting him to be saying my name or shaking me as he had done before. But, nothing of the sorts.

"That whole freezing thing is going to freak Caboose out one day." Washington sighed

"S-sorry."

"What did you remember this time?"

"Just.. Christmas. With uh, Locus and Felix." I said. It felt odd, all these memories of them, good memories. From what I had seen of my two former partners, though, they weren't exactly as I had remembered them.

"Oh." Washington's voice was low, maybe even somewhat concerned.

"I used to be close to them. But.. from what I can tell, they've changed a lot."

"Everyone does with time." he sighed

"That reminds me, you don't seem so different than what I remember."

"Really now?"

"Yeah, your the same old Wash. But then again, I don't remember you from the Project."

He let out a sigh now, as if I had brought back old memories.

"I didn't mean to-" I began

"No no its okay," he shook his head, turning around. "Lets just go catch up with the guys."

* * *

 _Sorry if this sucked i'm not really feeling it right now_

 _Hope you all have a happy new year!  
_

 _Until next chapter._


	6. Implantation

_In case you guys were wondering, I named my story after a movie called The Lazarus Effect._

 _Google it! Its one of my favorite horror movies._

 _Here we go!_

* * *

"Grif.. We just want to look at it." Carolina said, taking a step towards the orange armored soldier

"Thats what the UNSC guys said about the Grif Shot and I never saw it again!"

"The what?" I questioned

"Meta's weapon. Grif kept is as a trophy until the UNSC confiscated it."

"Oh." I tapped my foot lightly on the ground, watching everything unfold.

"Until then, I thought I was the only one man enough around here to cry, but Grif proved me wrong!" Donut chimed in, earning a hearty laugh from Tucker.

Grif lowers the Suppressor gun, "It had sentimental value!"

"Damn it Grif! hand over that laser this instant!"

"You cant tell me what to do, Sarge! I outrank you, again!"

"What th- bur- well.." Sarge loads his weapon, "Lets see you outrank the end of my shotgun!"

"Uh, done!" Grif raised his weapon, "fucking space laser, bitch."

I turned to Wash, "I, uh. Whats happening?"

The man sighed, shaking his head. "The usual."

Epsilon materialized next to Carolina, "Yeah, this is taking forever."

I watched the holographic man switch to his 'ghost' form and run towards the orange soldier, possessing him.

"Hey! Hey wait a minute- Hurk-egh!"

Epsilon possessed Grif drops the weapon. "Alright, here you go."

"Thanks." Carolina leans forward to pick up the weapon, examining it a moment. "Ugh.. Why is this so greasy?"

"If you think thats bad, imagine how I feel right now. Being inside this body is like trying to breathe through a trash can."

"He-gurk-gah.. God damn it! I hate that!" Grif yells as Epsilon appears next to Carolina again

"FASCINATING! An A.I with the ability to jump from soldier to soldier?!" Emily turns to Carolina. "Tell me, does he travel via your neural implants or something more subtle?"

"Implants. All Freelancer personnel have them."

I run a hand over the back of my neck, "I don't."

"Your implants had to be removed.." Washington stated.

"Why?"

"Because you're AI was trying to kill you." Carolina said, looking over at me.

 _Mother of Invention, many years ago_

 _"Agent Maryland, it is a privilege that you have been selected for AI implantation," the director said, watching as the various medics prepped me. "How are you feeling about this?"_

 _"I'm a bit nervous, sir." I admitted_

 _"The results will be worth it."_

 _"Now you won't feel a thing during the procedure," the medic began, holding up a syringe filled with a golden liquid. "But this may sting a bit."_

 _"I-is that really necessary?" I watched him a moment before looking away. I had never been too fond of needles, especially ones that size._

 _The medic laughed, "Unless you want to stay awake while I cut open the back of your neck, then yes."_

 _"Just relax." I winced as he brought the needle to my arm, sticking it into the soft vein, injecting the liquids into my body. After a few moments, my vision began to blur and my head began to feel heavy._

 _"Make sure you also inject her with this, after the procedure." the director handed the medic a small bottle containing dark purple liquid._

 _"..Sir, are you sure? We don't know if-"_

 _"Thats enough. Just get it done."_

 _"Y-yes sir." the medic replied, looking down at the bottle._

 _"Inform me once its complete." the director said, exiting the room._

 _My eyelids became too heavy to keep open and everything faded to black._

 _A few hours later_

 _I opened my eyes, bringing a hand up to press against my forehead. There was an odd humming noise in the back of my head, and I had a slight migraine._

 _"Good to see you're finally awake." the medic said, looking down at a tablet displaying my vitals, "How do you feel?"_

 _"I feel.. fine." I blinked, looking around the room._

 _"You're implantation was a success. Let me go inform the director."_

 _I nodded, watching him leave. At that moment, York and Washington entered the room._

 _"Hey Maryland, how you feeling?" York said, sitting on the side of my bed._

 _"I'm alright.. Do you also hear a constant humming noise?"_

 _"Yeah," he said, "Delta's pretty good about not being too talkative. But i've heard Gamma keeps Wyoming up sometimes."_

 _"Whats the name of your AI?" Wash asked_

 _I sat up slightly. "Zeta.. He hasn't said much yet.. Just a few mumbles here and there."_

 _"He's probably just shy. Theta doesn't really talk much around anyone except North." York said_

 _"The director told me Zeta would be loud.. And even intimidating at times.. But so far, nothing."_

 _"Well, i'm sure he'll come around." Washington said, "My implantation is tomorrow."_

 _"What? I thought I was supposed to be the last one." I scratched the back of my head._

 _"The Director informed Wash a few hours ago that he was getting his done tomorrow."_

 _"Thats.. odd. It wasn't even on the schedule." I said, my statement coming off as more of a question._

 _Just then, the director entered the room._

 _"Agents York and Washington." he nodded to the agents, "Clear the room please."_

 _The two agents left without question and the director turned to me._

 _"Agent Maryland, how does it feel?"_

 _"Everything feels fine.. Although Zeta hasn't said anything."_

 _"Zeta, if you please, I would like to introduce you to someone." The director spoke, his words coaxing and his tone encouraging._

 _It took a few seconds, but the form of a glowing black AI appeared over me._

 _"This is Agent Maryland. I want you to speak with her, get to know her. The two of you will working closely with one another."_

 _The AI turned to me. "Hello, Agent Maryland. My name is Zeta." he spoke in a deep voice_

 _"Hi, Zeta." I stared at the glowing AI in front of me._

 _"Zeta will be assisting you in the field and in training. You will be learning and growing with him. I trust you're ready for that?"_

 _"Yes, sir. Thank you."_

 _With that, the director left the room._

 _"I do not like that man." the AI said suddenly, turning to watch the director leave the room._

 _"Why do you say that?" I asked, a bit taken aback by his statement._

 _"He seems to have evil intentions.."_

 _"The director? He's given all of us so many opportunities and-"_

 _"I don't like him."_

 _I sighed, "give me a reason why you don't like him."_

 _The AI chuckled, "I don't like anyone."_

 _I was silent for a moment. "Why?"_

 _"Because." he let out a laugh. "I am the embodiment of hatred.."_

Present day

"Is.. she okay?"

"She zones out sometimes. Completely normal. Hey, Walker!" I felt someone shaking my shoulder.

"Huh?"

"You alright?" Wash questioned, releasing his grip on my arm.

"Y-yeah. Just a memory."

"Of what?" Epsilon questioned, appearing in front of me.

"Freelancer. When I got my AI implanted."

"You received an implantation? I thought they only gave those to the top Agents." The AI retorted.

I scoffed, "I was 5th when I received my implantations. Moved to third after, thank you."

"Sooo. How have you guys been?" Donut barged in

"Shut up."

"Same old, same old, huh? Thats cool."

"Well... I don't want to intrude on such a sweet moment of reconnection." Emily said, taking a slow step back.

"Fine by me." Washington responded

"I was being polite.. I'm actually far more interested in foreign technology. Bye!"

"Okay bye! ... She seems nice." Caboose added in

"Right?"

"I think she has a few screws lose." Simmons stated

"Oh-ho I could always help her out with that. Bow-chicka-bow"

"WAIT!" Caboose shouted

"Aw, c'mon dude, its been ages!"

"Washington! I-I almost forgot. Uh-uh-uh... Where's Freckles? Uh, he probably had some screws loose also."

"Ohhh. Y'know what?" Sarge said, glancing between the Freelancer and standard blue soldier. "I think i'm just gonna go take a peek at that laser thing after all. I'm just dying to see it... Uh.. I mean it's killing me not to-Uh... Oh. Nope. I got nothing." he turned and ran off

"Smooth." I mumbled

"Yeeaahh." Grif and Simmons say in sync as the two of them run off.

"Suave." [smooth in spanish] Lopez follows the two

Washington glances at Tucker who runs off as well. He sighs, looking at me.

"I, uh." I threw my hands up. "No idea whats going on, but I feel like I should just uh.. go." I took a few steps back before turning around and jogging after the others.

* * *

 _So I hope you guys enjoyed_

 _Leave a review._


End file.
